<p>NO MENTHOL EVER for singers!! Good heavens, that’s voice 101, I’m glad you mentioned it swr! Always read the ingredients in things, even if you’ve taken them before as formulations change. Vitamin C drops are soothing, tea with honey and also plenty of water. My D chugs WalMart brand of airborne (she likes it better and it can’t do any harm!).Run a vaporizer and DO NOT TALK! Rest your voice. Lorelei gave you the best advice, a lot of these other things can be dangerous in the hands of someone inexperienced. Personally, unless it’s an emergency, and this is not, I would never suggest that a young singer get shots of anything, especially cortisone, in order to sing. The resultant damage could keep you from singing any place you might get accepted- nodes are nasty things. Your voice is gone because you are ill and cortisone will bring down inflammation but overuse on top of illness might cause permanent damage. It’s a school audition, and they understand that illness is part and parcel of this time of year.
Do check with the schools and see if they will let you submit a CD/DVD instead and always carry copies of it with you to auditions, “just in case”.
I am hoping that you’ll be just fine, but please, rest, and keep quiet! Mark through your pieces when you are ready to begin singing again and relax. Good luck!</p>
<p>I feel your pain.
Throat Coat tea is great for soothing the throat. Also, drinking honey straight is generally if you are forced to sing a last minute fix. Make sure your water you drink is room temp. also, and if you have to drink cold water, that you hold it in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing. I hope you feel better, make sure you take your cold medicine and get a good nights sleep. Whispering is also, the worst possible thing you can do for your voice, so if you have to speak you are better off speaking at a normal level. Feel better</p>
<p>MezzoGirl, your advice is kind and helpful, but this thread is from last year!</p>
<p>The timing of the bump on this thread is perfect. My D is a vocal perf major at Berklee and just called to say she has strep C (as opposed to A?). This has been going on a week and she’s even hard to understand when she’s talking. Help! Need advice, or even guidance on what kind of Doc to send her to see. She’s already been to UrgentCare 5 Days ago.</p>
<p>Normally one would go to an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist in such cases. Singers tend to find good ENTs and get to know them very well over the course of a career. It is important not to try to sing through something that bad, but to rest the voice until it is gone.</p>
<p>Thanks, BassDad … the ER docs sent her directly to an ENT specialist after I posted and now I’m waiting to hear. They think she has an abscess in her tonsils from the strep. Ugh, poor kid. The good news is that she is meeting some ENTs that know she is a vocalist as she’s learning to advocate for herself.</p>
<p>Oh no, SnowflakeVT! I’m glad she’s getting care. I hope she feels better soon. I assume she’s seeing an ENT in Boston who works with vocalists.</p>
<p>D just messaged me that the ENT said there were no abscesses in her tonsils, and the antibiotic course is complete as of today, so did not prescribe more. He suggested she continue to heal (go home, heal, rest) and come back in 4 weeks so he can see if her tonsils have come back down to normal. She had strep last April and her tonsils also swelled up like balloons, so I’m guessing they are evaluating her after this bout to see if they need to be removed, hopefully after this semester is over. If any vocalists in Boston know a good ENT that has worked with vocalists, please PM me.</p>
<p>Glassharmonica, no, she did not necessarily see an ENT that works w/ vocalists. My D went to the hospital (ER or Urgent care at the hospital? she wasn’t clear), who then had her go to the Mass Eye and Ear (she said a throat specialist place) right away and the ENT there is who looked at her today. They looked at her vocal chords by putting some special scope down her throat and saw no damage and also determined no abscesses in her tonsils because of the strep. I guess her tonsils are evenly swollen on both sides and don’t hurt, she just can’t swallow or talk easily because there’s not much room left. So if you are aware of an ENT in Boston that works with vocalist, please PM me. I’m not from Massachusetts or Boston.</p>
<p>Her teacher might know of a good ENT in the area.</p>
<p>I realize this was an old thread, but thought I would throw something in as an old fashioned sinus sufferer (which finally got addressed, a good ENT figured out I had one of my sinus cavities with a perpetual infection <em>ugh</em>).</p>
<p>The Neilmed system, which is basically a buffered saline solution you squirt up through the nostrils, can help, it does a great job flushing and soothing, you basically squirt up one nostril and it comes out the other…also good in pollen season, can flush out trapped dust, pollen and spores…and I doubt it is going to cause any harm:)</p>
<p>The other thing is old fashioned steaming, it works. You boil water (a bit of apple cider vinegar in the water also can’t help) and you “tent” over the boiling water with a towel and breathe. Obviously, with that you need to be careful, you don’t want to get too close to the water, but I find this works where a vaporizer doesn’t. Problem with this is you have to be careful, and not get too close…I don’t think that would hurt the vocal chords, but I am not an expert on them, so that this one with a bit of caution.</p>
<p>My main point is something a bit off tangent, about finding the appropriate doctor who understands issues with a musician. My S who is a violin student had a 90% fracture in his bowing arm, and the orthopedist we went to knew the issues with playing the instrument (his spouse is a violinist!) and was able to help him with rehab and a schedule to get back to practicing. Obviously, a head cold or strep on a violinist is like a pulled muscle in the upper arm to a singer, this applies only where appropriate:). Obviously, not always possible, but from what I have seen with music students and problems in their area of study, it is important to try and find someone with experience with singers and instrumentalists. Not always possible, but often teachers and local performers know people, might be worthwhile asking around. When dancers get hurt, from what I understand they have an unofficial approved list of doctors to ‘go to’ <em>smile</em></p>
<p>Unfortunately, this thread is now timely for my D too. Her junior recital is Friday and she has her first cold of the season. She is so careful but lots of her friends have been sick. She is very upset about the timing of course. </p>
<p>Best case scenario is that it will just be a head cold but you have to be able to breathe to sing. She never takes antihistamines/decongestants because they are drying but if that becomes necessary for Friday, are there some that are better than others?</p>
<p>Fastest remedy we’ve found for head cold is actually the saline rinse Musicprnt referred to above (at least 2x day), PLUS steaming (with some essential oils and wearing goggles to avoid eye sting if using eucalyptus, but lavendar good too) and Sudafed (the kind you have to get from the pharmacist now, not OTC directly.) In our case, this approach to colds was germane to trumpet, not always vocal performance, but as you can appreciate, things go to heck very quickly for a sick trumpeter 
More recently, my son has added a short course of pure colloidal silver, a few teaspoons of the 20 ppm kind, with water – it’s antiviral and anti-microbal IF its not made by quacks/internet shysters. Not recommended for daily use in general or anything but seems to quickly reduce bugs and shortens span of illness. If you choose to try it, please only use true distilled colloidal silver, not the kind with mineral protein in it (“MSP”) – to avoid a rare but conceivable condition of called agyria where at huge volumes, eg. 450 ppm over several years can cause skin to take on a bluish hue. Also, the reason I say to avoid the “proteins” type is that some research would suggest this combo, or any chloride combo, can be less effective as the silver itself needs to be bioavailable to actually combat the virus/bacteria.</p>
<p>In the past, she’s gotten by with Mucinex (not the D), steaming, the neti pot with no drugs. I just figured if Friday rolls around and she can’t breathe, she may have to resort to meds. I hadn’t even realized that the Sudafed was not OTC any longer. Doesn’t Mucinex D have the same ingredient?</p>
<p>Sorry, I should have clarified – it’s OTC meaning, no rx required, but you have to sign for it at the counter via the pharmacist because its components are/can be related to the production of meth. Perhaps this varies by state?</p>
<p>I knew what you meant in that you have to ask for certain meds and there is a limit on how much you can buy. I just didn’t know which ones.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the Advil or Alleve. That will help bring down the swelling in the sinuses, which then sometimes helps them drain. And we always went with the Mucinex D (signed for). It’s the same formulation of an old OTC: Sudafed Moisturizing. They add the Guafinesin to the decongestant, so it’s not supposed to be as drying.
Also, packets of EmergenC - I think that’s how it’s spelled. High dosage of vitamin C, but also B vitamins, which she’s probably burning due to stress.
Fingers crossed -</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions and the good thoughts. Most people get down when they have a cold because they’re sick but singers are down because they won’t be at their best. The disappointment is tough but just part of it all.</p>
<p>They learn to sing through but they don’t have the same resonance or color to their voice. I’m hoping for a quick recovery for her - she still has a few days!</p>
<p>Good luck to your D, BeezMom. A lot can happen in a few days so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a quick recovery.</p>